Where are you from?

Ray Mardia is based in Canberra and feels like a child of the world. Her heritage is a mix of Egyptian and Bangladeshi, and she moved to Australia with her family when she was eight years old. Gripped by questions of belonging from a young age, Ray is grateful that so many myths, stories and cultures inform who she is today.

We are one.
All is connected.
But where are you from?
Every day
A kilo of solid mass
A kilo of air
Three litres of water
Passes us by
Yesterday’s you
Is gone
Today
The flesh I dwell in
Will leave tomorrow
Where are you really from?
In a fortnight
Your whole body
Passes me by
You think you are you
and I am me
But just yesterday
You were a flower in Egypt
The breath I exhaled now
Will become the herbs in your garden tomorrow
You and I will make our way
To the tissues in each other’s skin
And the blood in our hearts
But, where are you really from?
I am you.
You are everything.
and we are
One.